Team Run and Hide
++ Altihex ++ Located on a mesa of warm gray metallic ore, Altihex is one of the handful of city-state clustered around Cybertron's northern polar region. Cooler temperatures and clear skies made it the perfect place for space observation and research, and the abundance of flying and space-worthy altmodes from his once active hotspots only encouraged this notion. Cylindrical towers in reds, bronzes and golds rise high into the air with windows facing away from the almost everpresent polar sun. Domed hangars and wide spaceport runways ring the city, and every building, much like in Vos, is designed with access and comfort for flying altmodes as well as those technicians who stay grounded. In the center of Altihex is the Space Elevator, a massive cable-like superstructure that carries both passengers and materials to an orbital docking ring. The Kimia Facility, home of Cybertron's Orital Guard, is only a shuttle trip away. On the ground, a subterranean energon refinery and storage facility meets the heavy power needs of all the research centers, training stations, and space elevator. Almost in contrast (or perhaps because of it) to the constant scientific and military work done here, there is a casino located just at the edge of town, where gambling, comedy acts and live shows provide a much-needed break for those working and living here. Arcee is meandering through a group of sectors where she thinks she might be able to locate Springer. She's fairly sure that he didn't die in the big battle against the Omega Destroyers, but not hearing from him makes her uneasy. Doing these long patrols and scans keeps her occupied, and it keeps her away from Iacon, so this is why she's involving herself in such a meticulous, time-consuming task. Blurr has been holed up under the Skyline Tower in Translucentia Heights ever since Zeta Prime's fall, only venturing out when necessary to fetch supplies. Or rob random Decepticons. Because it's fun, and because he can. So he's been lurking in the shadows of darkened streets, waiting for a promising-looking Decepticon target. Arcee's scans will probably pick up on him. After all, she knows him. Arcee picks up a familiar signal, and when she sees that it's Blurr, she frowns uncertainly. She hasn't seen him in a little while, and the last time they talked was not exactly the best discussion; she was preparing to leave the base and join Pax. So will he still want to be friends? She decides to at least try to approach him, and if he scoots away or shoots her, she'll have her answer. Blurr doesn't do either. In fact, he seems happy to see her. "Arcee!" He quickly reveals himself, though his tone is hushed. "Good to see a familiar face..." he sighs. "What have you been up to lately? You haven't bought into all that scrap about Zeta having killed Pax, have you? I mean, it's not as if Megatron even showed us any -evidence- that his claims are true." Arcee sighs in relief, and if Blurr allows for a brief hug, she spontaneously gives it to him. His moods have never been entirely comprehensive to her, but he has good reason to be at least slightly unstable. "I'm so glad you're okay," she says quietly. "I don't believe much of anything coming out of Iacon now that Megatron is there. I've been staying in the Narrows with Rod." Blurr nods. "I'm glad you haven't fallen for it. Didn't think you would. You're too savvy for that." He smiles, accepting the hug, then lowers his voice even further. "You don't have to listen to Megatron. You can come with me. I've got a safehouse of sorts set up underground in Translucentia...Quickswitch is with me right now, but we have room for more." "Sure." Arcee's quick to accept the offer of a safehouse. "So you managed to locate Quickswitch...by any chance, have you seen Springer? Prowl's trying to locate a lot of bots, but I'm not doing that work for him." Blurr shakes his head. "No, I haven't seen Springer. But, I could help you look!" he smiles. Given how fast he can move, he can cover a lot of ground at once. "Where did you last see him? Know of any places he'd be likely to run to?" "Last time I saw him was in Iacon. I'm pretty sure he was there when...well the moment that Pax died...I can't remember for sure, because of the circumstances," Arcee admits. "But if he wasn't there, he was definitely in Kaon. ...I don't know. Don't think he died, but I don't have many good leads on his location. That's a very generous offer on your part, but...we might need to save our energon in the cycles ahead." Blurr slings an arm over Arcee's shoulder. "Don't worry, we won't have to ration it too much. I've got quite a few reserves. I may not be a famous athlete any more, but the money I made while I was...well it pays off." He pulls away and transforms, starting off toward Iacon. "C'mon, I'll show you." Arcee transforms to vehicular mode and hustles to keep up with Blurr as he heads toward Iacon. She's been staying away from there, but she feels a bit safer not travelling alone. "You seem to be doing...pretty well emotionally speaking," Arcee tightbeams over to Blurr. "It's good to see you're doing better." Blurr slows down a bit so that Arcee can keep up. Yeah, it certainly does seem as if he's doing a lot better. Well, he did just find out that Rung was still alive, that he hadn't died the night Cipher was killed. But he is still far from having his act together. It's just that he is very good at appearing to be fine. After all that is something he was trained to do all his life. Looking fine, and telling everyone he is fine, when he actually isn't. Therefore, he just chuckles at her comm. << Yeah, thanks! I'm glad for it, too. >> Altihex has particular meaning to Blast Off- it's a place where he and Whirl made several secret rendevous back when they had to hide their relationship. He was in the area on other business and, as always, had to go check out their bench- and the park they always met at. Everything's still there, too, which was good to see. Now he makes his way from that park and heads down the street. He'll stop and get a drink before heading back to /Iacon/, of all places. Reaching a street corner, he proceeds to step out into the street, starting to cross it when the light permits. "<< Right, if it happens -- >>" Arcee slows as she notices someone in the crosswalk ahead. "<< Blurr, LOOK... >>" << Hopefully it will. >> Blurr replies. And then suddenly, BLAST OFF. Oohh...that...! The speedster suddenly veers off the street, driving into an alley and transforming to jump behind some crates. << Ha, funny we should run into him right now. >> he pauses. << I'm going to rob him. We're going to need as many supplies as we can get our hands on, right? We'll see what he's got in his compartments. >> He watches, waiting for the Combaticon to arrive on his side of the street. Blast Off has a weird feeling of being watched, and turns his head as traffic seems to screech a bit nearby. The Combaticon pauses, a little suspicious, but seeing nothing he eventually continues on his way. The shuttleformer gets to the other other side and starts making his way down to a cafe for a drink. Arcee swerves off the road right at the time Blurr does, following him into the alley and transforming. "You're going to...?? Um. Okay," she answers, looking uncertain. "He /acts/ like he's made of shanix but I doubt his situation has changed very much, especially if he's on foot patrol today. But hey, I could be wrong." "So?" Blurr shrugs. "We can use whatever we can get, Arcee. I have no idea how long we'll need to be holed up in there." Besides, messing with Blast Off is fun. Oh and he hates Blast Off's struts, there's that too. More than he hates the other Decepticons, even. So when the Combaticon passes the entrance to the alleyway, the former racer attempts to ambush him and pull him off the street and out of sight of the general public. Blast Off has good reflexes, and can often dodge out of harm's way. But unsuspectingly walking down a city street and being ambushed by Blurr and his incredible speed are two major strikes against him, and he is *just* catching movement out of the corner of his optic before he's being grabbed and pulled into the alleyway. The shuttleformer attempts to struggle but the other mech is stronger- though not by a *huge* amount, but by some. The Combaticon doesn't go without a fight, though... he attempts to get a small pistol he still carries out of subspace so he can fire off a shot at his attacker. "UNHAND ME!!" Before Arcee's really able to continue that line of thought, suddenly Blurr has managed to snag Blast Off, and...here he is, in the alleyway, in all of his huffy glory. "Hi, Blast Off," she greets...because why not, it wasn't HER idea to rob him! Blurr definitely expected Blast Off to pull some kind of sidearm, so he twists out of the way though it is at such close range that it still grazes a shoulder. He winces but still continues in his attempts to wrestle Blast Off against a wall and pin him there. "Sorry, but I don't take orders from Decepticons. -Especially- not -you-." Blast Off blinks as he suddenly sees pink-lots of pink. "Arcee??!!" He stares at the femme, confused now... but then he sees who his attacker is. Violet optics flash a deeper purple. "YOU." He spits out at Blurr. The shot grazes the racer, but doesn't slow him down much and soon Blast Off is struggling with the other mech, trying to wrest out of his grasp. This close quarter combat is NOT a good place for him, at all, and he wants to get away and try to fly off for a shot from up high. "What is the meaning of this? What is your problem? Your precious government has FALLEN. You're supposed to be working WITH us now!" As Blurr tries to pin him against a wall, the Combaticon sends a kick at close range, trying to make Blurr stumble back so he can shoot again. "I said GET OFF ME!!" "Look, it wasn't my idea to rob you, to be honest. But since this has already gotten off to a bad start...could you just give us, uh...well, whatever you might happen to have on you? That would be really helpful." Arcee smiles, she's never mugged anyone before. Blurr stares at Arcee as she -asks- Blast Off politely to give them all his stuff. Really. -Really-?! "Well okay I guess it was worth a try." he laughs. "Now quick, punch him in the face until he's out, then we'll empty his compartments, 'kay? I'll hold him dow--oof!" He takes a kick to the chassis, though his grip does not relax enough for Blast Off to slip away. "That's right, the government's fallen, so now we can do whatever the hell we want!" he shoots back at the Combaticon's protests. "Right?! Oh, did I forget to mention, I don't buy Megatron's pile of rustwash about Zeta killing Pax. I don't trust him any farther than I can throw him, so that makes -working- with him kind of impossible, you know?" "ROB ME??!!" The Combaticon just gets more indignant now, even as he struggles. "How... how UNCOUTH!! I should have known, first you set me up for a trap and now you're trying to ROB me and this is exactly why one cannot trust Autobot heathens!! And to think I took you to the Opera once!!" That's accompanied by a loud HUFFFFFF. His optics widen as Blurr speaks of punching him in the face until he passes out and that brings about a fresh round of struggles. Blast Off wrestles with the racer, sending a fist towards Blurr's chin. "Look who's TALKING. You, who are completely untrustworthy. You, who drag people to be brainwashed, you, who can't do anything except try to ROB people minding their own business!" Next, he tries twisting his body to send a shoulder slamming into the racer so he can hopefully get another shot off. "Now UNHAND ME, and Megatron MIGHT be merciful!" He spares a glance towards Arcee. "And YOU- you choose to side with this buffoon? You USED to have a little class- show some now and I will forgive this... this travesty!" Arcee sighs, and it's a very impressive sigh, it's almost as long-winded as Blast Off's famous HUFF. Then, she pulls out her laser-pistols from subspace. "I'm SO SORRY for being 'uncouth', but yyyyeeeeesssss, we are robbing you," she explains. "I wish you wouldn't take everything so personally, Blast Off, you /know/ it's all politics. Just give us your spare energon, shanix, unused metro passes, cargo, and we'll be on our way." Blurr smirks, though he grunts and continues to strain against Blast Off's renewed struggles, pushing his shoulder hard against the other mech's chassis to keep him back as best he can. He partially blocks the punch, though it still smarts, then comes back with a punch of his own, attempting to knock the Combaticon out cold. As for the politics, Maybe that's true for Arcee, but for Blurr? Oh, it's definitely personal. "Don't worry Blast Off, she's right. She doesn't have anything against you personally! It's all just business, politics, you know? For me, though, it's different. You're the one to blame for everything that happened to Rung. If he hadn't listened to you, maybe he'd still have his head on right. And you're to blame for everything that happened to -yourself-, too. Maybe if you hadn't been so selfish, we'd be on the same side. But no, you just had to have your little spoils." "Now," he nods toward Arcee. "Empty your compartments and we'll let you go. Don't, and she'll shoot you in the head. Got that?" Blast Off almost pauses as he hears a (near) huff worthy of one of his own and he glances over at Arcee just in time to see her pull her guns out on him. This makes the shuttleformer blink and answer with a sarcastic bite to his otherwise cultured voice, "I beg your *pardon*, Arcee, but yes, I /DO/ find getting robbed to be rather *personal*." He returns her sigh with another HUFFFFFF. "And I will give you nothing of the sort!!" The Combaticon can truly put on a huff to end all HUFFs and he is in a full-fledged one right now. He continues to fight against Blurr in the alleyway, trying to get out of the other mech's grip. He's able to make Blurr stumble and pause a bit but never quite able to get him away completely. Blast Off catches sight of the punch Blurr directs at him just in time to duck his head to the right, but it still hits a shoulder and sends him spinning back as an armor plate tears right off. He's not built for this at all- he's built for sniping from afar, not particpating in a drag-down, knock-out up close and personal fight. "Rung? What about him?! He saw how corrupt this government was and he tried to STOP it... it is YOU who is still blind!" He hits the wall with a crunch, but his foot comes up immediately to try to kick Blurr directly in the chassis and knock him *well* away. He could do as told- but Blast Off has never liked being told what to do, and he is a Combaticon warrior. He may not be exactly brave, but he's no coward either, and meekly surrendering isn't in his vocabulary. (He's also extremely stubborn). "Absolutely NOT! I don't surrender to the likes of you... I am a Combaticon!" With that, he swings the pistol up again, trying to land a direct shot at Blurr even as he's trying to duck away from where Arcee stands. He's got to get out of here and into the sky.... Arcee doesn't /really/ want to put a round in Blast Off's head. She glances at Blurr; is he serious?? Blast Off may be royally annoying, but still -- it's Blast Off. She's not going to do THAT. But she does begin aiming, the targeting array on her weapon lighting up as she points it toward the blustery shuttleformer. "Yeah -right-. You're talking a whole lot but I think something's wrong with your vocal synth because all I hear is 'blah blah blah.' " Blurr mocks Blast Off, though he does get kicked yet again and this time is shoved a few paces back. He hadn't -really- intended for her to actually kill him, right? After all he knew Arcee better than that, she wouldn't do -that-. She might hurt him, though. Still, that punch was slagging -satisfying-. Ha. That was -really- what Blurr wanted. He didn't give a frag about Blast Off's stuff. He had more stuff than Blast Off right now, thanks to the IAA's private funds. Recovering from the hit, he brings out his own weaponry, pointing his arms in the Combaticon's direction and firing without hesitation. "Come on Blast Off you're a smart one! Give it up, you're outnumbered -and- outmatched this time." Blast Off is indeed outnumbered and outgunned, but that doesn;t prevent him from feeling highly affronted by all this as well as highly stubborn. He sees Arcee locking aim on him, and then Blurr aims too... and he fires. No hesititaion there at all. The Combaticon lunges to the side, away from Arcee still, but one of the shots connects, tearing into a plate on his side. "Gahhh!" Now leaking energon, the shuttle grasps his side, vents heaving, and stares at the two. The prudent thing might be to give up. But again, he's a Combaticon. Then again.... The staring contest goes on a moment, then Blast Off shrugs, lifting his hands a little as he does so. "...Alright. Fine. Just... just give me a moment, OK?" He looks sullen, reaching slowly towards his subspace- and then all slag breaks loose- or tries to. In one fast move, he attempts to do two things. His rocket boosters suddenly roar to life just as he leaps into the air, making a break for freedom- and he tries to shoot at Blurr at the same time. As Blast Off suddenly makes his move to transform and make himself scarce, Arcee realizes she has a golden opportunity to seriously injure him before he completes the transformation and reaches a safe distance. But since this is all bluff, she switches off the targeting mechanism on her pistols and fires a few stray shots completely off the mark. "See, I told you, he's broke. As usual. I think you just needed to let off some steam on him, though," she mentions to Blurr with a smirk. The shot flies, but Blurr dives out of the way easily, since Blast Off had been making his escape at the same time. He watches with satisfaction as the injured Combaticon takes his leave. "Ha," he scoffs. "Pathetic. You're right, I bet he didn't have -anything- in his subspace. And it -did- feel good, that punch." He smirks, too. Arcee can't help but grin. "...You're funny," she chuckles. She hasn't had much to laugh about lately, so this is a bit of comic relief in an otherwise very grim situation. Once he's in the air, Blast Off feels *much* better. He's back in his element and not surrounded and in a compromised position. He's also tempted to fire on the two of them now, but Blurr's shot in his side is fairly serious. His diagnostic arrays are already scanning, screaming at him, and telling him he has suffered a good deal of damage. Not horrible damage, but enough it would be prudent to make his escape and not risk further injury- or death. He pauses long enough, hovering in the air to glare down on the two of them. "Heathens! But I should expect as much. Next time we meet I will take YOU by surprise, not the other way around." The sniper lets out another *huff* and flies off, still trailing energon.